User blog:MichaelDiaz101/Recollection of the Mind: Chapter Three
Nightmares serve as a statement of our weakness. Our deepest worries, or most horrifying ideas manifest and we are lost in our own head. With another sleepless night in the books James awoke well before his alarm. Darrion was watching him. "Restless night huh?" His were clasped together, the trickle of his eyes lit up in the darkness of the room. James hated the idea of sharing this room with someone as deranged and detached as Darrion Prescott. His tall, lean form almost bent forward from the bed in the shape of a figure similar in complexion to that of Slender Man. James nodded, impassively before sitting up and getting out of bed. He walked to the grimy window and looked out into the night sky. The clear night sky was always a spectacle and he was often sternly reminded of how small, and insignificant his very existence was. Thoughts of his father, a wonderful man removed from this earth far too soon. The days they spent with each other prior to the robbery that saw his final day as nothing more than the brass bullet entering his body and blood stained on the snow covered brimstone. He wasn't even forty years old. A young man gone before his better days. "Are you thinking about daddy?" The tone in Darrion's voice, intruding on the golden memories of his younger days, stabbed through them like a knife through wilted paper. "Wish he was here to take you home where you got pancakes for breakfast every morning? 'Good job son, I love you' and then he gives you some kiss on your forehead." "What's your deal?" James turned, finding new courage to stand up to the imposing stature of Darrion. Darrion didn't seem troubled, or even shocked. He kept that firm assured little evil grin that he had. His eyes were like sharpened daggers, cutting through his skin. James regretted uttering the words. As Darrion slowly stood to his feet and extended himself to his full size, standing at nearly over a foot taller than that of James, he looked down on him. James turned pale, his stomach growled and he could feel himself wanting to cry, or shit. Darrion was different than anybody else at this school. He wasn't angry, his eyes contained no rage within them. Instead it was.... Amusement. His smile widened to reveal a set of sharp, serrated teeth. Eyes showed a level of amusement that only went to unsettling James further. "Do you really want to know?" James didn't answer. A lump had built up in his throat and his mouth was bone dry. No words could formulate, no thoughts of dissuading this from continuing. All he could do was allow Darrion to continue on. "Personally I like watching you, watching your pain and how you cope." Darrion explained. "You're lost. I'm just trying to send you on the right path. Be your guiding influence." James didn't know how to take this in. Darrion belittled him, and manipulated him to fight some other kid and now he claims he was doing it with the intent of taking up the maternal mantel that has been usurped since his father had a met a grisly end. "Now, I hear you and that cheerleader got a lunch date tomorrow." Darrion grinned. How did he know that?. "So you need your beauty sleep, sport." 6 hours later James felt it. Y'know? That feeling of being followed, like every path you take has a pursuer following loosely behind you and with each step that predator grows closer. The fact that Darrion knew of his date only sent his uneasiness to the next level. He skipped lunch and sent Hayley a text that he wasn't feeling well, which was more or less true given the circumstances. Instead he slipped into the empty Chemistry room and was waiting for his next class. As much as he hated Chemistry he had hoped that whoever was trailing him, whether it be Darrion or someone else, would lose interest and be off. Nervously he tapped his foot, looking at the door worried that someone was lurking on the other side. Was he really safe in the classroom here? In most cases the students didn't even care if a teacher or prefect saw them bullying others. Soon the students started to pour into the classroom as the bell rang. A tall Jock came in, he wore a letterman's jacket and had a hat on. He was then followed by a shorter jock behind him talking about some crazy play he saw the other day. Both didn't even acknowledge James' presence. The next one was a younger student who chose to sit near the front. None of these kids really fit the role of how he imagined his pursuer so he just dismissed them. The next was Michael. "Yooooo, James!" Michael hollered, towering over most others in the classroom. Michael jumped on top of James desk, almost tumbling over the desk with James still in it. "Thanks for that." James said, quietly. "Hey, did you hear that Burty-" Michael's nickname for Burton, "wants us to clean out the scotch broom behind the Jocks stupid fucking clubhouse?" Michael just shook his head and spit on the ground. James honestly felt intimidated by him. He was big, and rowdy. James mostly just kept to himself. He preferred to just observe and stay behind the scenes and to have Michael up his ass really terrified him. He felt that Michael was a good guy but the erratic way he behaved really set him off. James shrugged, he felt that saying nothing was better than getting into a verbal boxing match with him. "You don't care?" He perked his head to the side and crouched down right next to him. "Seriously?? I don't want to clean that shit, makes me itch and all the wrong places." "Take your seats everyone! So I've handed out your instructions and I want you to read through them and get to work." Dr. Watts burst into the room and started to issue out orders. He looked at James. "Mister Robinson will no longer be your partner. I'm changing you to Pete Kowalski." James nodded and looked down. Pete was smaller than he was. He knew that this wouldn't work out if he didn't say something first because Pete wasn't working to collaborate. "This project is going to take us a few days." He opened up, not really sure where he was taking this. "Do you want to work on it in your room, or mine?" "Yours is fine." Pete stammered. They both stared forward, towards the periodic table that extended over most of the perimeter wall in the classroom. Neither one speaking up, both thinking they really should. Both were shy, keeping their true passion close to their chest. James was secretly hoping that Pete would just buck up and say something so he didn't have to. "So.... How do you like this place?" Pete asked. How do I like this place? Not really the question he had anticipated. He'd been targeted by bullies, humiliated into a fight, and publicly shamed by his roommate. Darrion. Yeah, Darrion was the worst of this place. The stone gargoyles that were entrenched at the perimeter wall looking down at the street with predatory resentment. Darrion was worse. Him and the other kid, Gary. But Gary wasn't interested in him like Darrion was. If Gary was a Snake, Darrion was a King Cobra and James was a meek little mouse moving with determined prowess through the tall fields of grass. "Oh, yeah. Place is wonderful." James rolled his eyes. "It could always be worse, you know?" "Oh, yeah. I know worse." James snorted, with rage. "I lost my dad, you know what that's like?" "No.." Pete looked down, he felt guilty for trying to give some kind of support structure. He just didn't what to say, or how to deliver it for that matter. James looked over and felt guilty for going off on Pete like that. "Sorry, it's just..." "It's okay." Pete piped up, with a warm smile. "I'm sorry I didn't quite understand your whole situation." "It's alright." James sighed, relieved that he didn't hurt Pete's feelings at all. "Listen, you want to get a soda or something after class?" "I don't have any money." Pete muttered. "I got a few bucks." James stated. ---- A few sodas later the two of them were heading towards the dorm to talk about their project. During this walk James told Pete everything that had happened in his life leading up to him just being there. The loss of his dad, his mom not giving a shit, and his grandmother dying prior to his move in date. "Wow, that's so cool." Pete's amazement drew another snarling remark from James, unintentionally of course. "Cool?? My dad's dead, bro. He ain't coming back." "Awwwh, isn't sad?" Wade laughed, accompanied by two other Bullies. One with a shaved head who was much taller than he was, he looked dumb as doornail. The other, another shorter Bully. "Little James here is crying because dad isn't coming home." "Shut up." James muttered under his breath. "What was that, you little bitch?" Wade snarled, pushing James back. "I said shut up!" James felt the same rage that he felt the night that he fought Wade in the Hole and knocked him out. He lunged forward and delivered a swift punch to Wade's thigh, and then he grabbed the Bully by his shirt and threw him down. The dumb one, who James soon learned was named Troy, had interfered to prevent their leader Wade from sustaining a beating. James was kicked onto the asphalt. "James!" Pete yelled, but the sound of the Bullies all taking a turn kicking and stomping him on the ground was all that James could register. Just then, in one swift motion one Bully was knocked to the ground. Before Wade and Troy could ascertain that the other was taken out James had caught a glimpse of their assailant. It was Darrion. Darrion was as ferocious physically as he was mentally. His long limbs extended out into brutal hammers as they smashed into the Bullies. Troy, the dumb one, surely lost quite a few brain cells if he has any left. Darrion had smashed his powerful elbows down onto Troy's jaw, and then delivered a precise punch to Troy's ribcage. The Bully toppled over and put his hands up to show that he yields. "You and femme boy huh?" Darrion grinned down at James. "What do you want?" James got up to his knee and felt his body. Aching pains, open cuts, and a bloody nose were left over from the 'battle'. "That's no way to talk to the guy that just saved your cute little ass." Darrion blew him a kissy face. "Anyways, what are you doing with that, thing?" Darrion nodded to Pete, who was stiff, almost frozen with fear. "His name is Pete-" James replied. "I know who he is." "-And he's gonna be studying in our room." "Over your dead body." Darrion growled. "Death is better than where I am now." James said, he looked defeated. He was ready to just give up. "Ooooh, you're eager to go out just like daddy, aren't you?" Darrion teased. "Fuck you." James spat, stepping forward to show that he would stand up to Darrion. "Oh fine. Fruit-boy can kick it with us." Darrion brushed past Pete, standing probably close to a foot over Pete it was like the difference between a dinosaur and a possum. "I'm sure he'll have a great time hanging at our place." Pete didn't say anything. He turned pale. It wasn't the Bullies that scared him, not in comparison to Darrion. "H-he's your roommate?" James didn't know what to say, he just nodded. Pete took a big gulp and followed James inside. Category:Blog posts